An Elf at Hogwarts
by Mornel
Summary: An elf discovers her true identity and learns about love, loss and power. She will have to face her past and fight the forces of evil from both worlds please R+R
1. Default Chapter

Harry lay back and closed his eyes as the Hogwarts express raced along the railroad tracks. "I'm almost there," he thought, "almost there." It had been a long hard summer, full of sadness and fear. Once back at the Dursleys Cedric's death had haunted his dreams and every night he woke up in a cold sweat. There had been no sign of Voldemort although he had seen Professor McGonagall, in her cat form, outside his house almost everyday. As if the guilt and doubt hadn't been bad enough the Dursley's were especially cruel to him, forcing Harry to work outside in the hot sun all day. Sirius Black was still in hiding, though Harry had received a few vague letters from him. Overall he had not had much contact with the wizarding world, except for the occasional letter from Ron and Hermione, who also knew nothing about Dumbledore's plans for Voldemort.  
  
"Harry, Harry, the food lady's here" said Ron as he shook Harry awake. "Oh right," replied Harry as he rubbed his eyes. He Ron and Hermione ordered their food and then began to discuss the upcoming year. " I hope we win the house cup and the Quidditch cup this year" said Ron bright eyed. "Me too," replied Harry, "and that I don't get killed by Voldemort." There was an awkward silence. "You won't Harry," said Hermione in a comforting voice, "you've beaten him before, and now that he has a body he can be killed just as easily as we can. Besides, I'm sure Dumbledore has been preparing for an attack and has added extra security measures to the school. Dumbledore won't let you die Harry and you know it." "Well I hope we have a good year, despite all this danger" said Ron. "So do I" answered Harry.  
  
The three friends talked about their summers for the rest of the train ride, deciding to avoid the depressing subject of Voldemort. When they arrived they rode the carriages up to the school and then sat down in the Great Hall to watch the sorting ceremony. A few moments later the nervous first years walked in, gawking all about. Yet one of them was taller then them, a girl with silky blonde hair down to the middle of her back. It wasn't until she turned around that Harry saw who and what she really was.  
  
Once the rest of the first years had gone the tall girl stepped up to the stool and faced the crowd. Everyone gasped. She had piercing blue eyes and the fairest skin anyone has every seen, but it wasn't her features that shocked the crowd, it was her ears. They were pointy. The girl seemed rather scared and nervous. Over the roar of the murmurs someone could be heard asking, "what is she?" and Malfoy yelling, "freak." At that moment Dumbledore stood up and raised his hands for silence. "She is an Elf" he began, "from a distant land and has come to learn about our ways. She will be entering into 5th year and even though she appears different I expect you all to treat her with the same respect and dignity you do everyone else. There is to be no discrimination," he concluded looking directly at Malfoy.  
  
* * *  
  
Auria sat at the front of the room looking out into the groups of students. She had never been in the presence of so many humans and it made her very nervous. When Dumbledore had finished speaking Professor McGonagall came over and placed the sorting hat on her head. For a moment it was silent, and then it began to speak. "Ah, you are one of them" it said in its mocking voice, "we've never had one of you here before, and you are not even a normal one of them, no, no, that's for sure. Now let us see, where to put you? I could end up being wrong in this, the final choice is up to you of course, but I believe that you belong in.GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
Professor McGonagall removed the hat from her head and pointed to the Gryffindor table. Auria gracefully walked over to it and sat down beside Harry. Then the sorting ceremony was over and Dumbledore gave his beginning year speech. "Welcome back to Hogwarts. Due to recent events no student is to be outside the school at night, nor enter the forbidden forest or else they will be expelled immediately." However after that Auria heard nothing but was in shock that she would not be able to walk in the woods. She was an elf, she had to.  
  
Dumbledore finished his speech and the food appeared on the plates. Auria took a little and tasted it. "This is going to be a long year" she thought, "it does not exactly match the quality of Elvish food." "So, I we'll be sharing a dorm room" said the girl across from her. Auria looked up and smiled shyly. "Do you speak English?" asked the girl. "Yes" replied Auria softly. "But we call this tongue Westron."  
  
Harry noticed that she has a beautiful musical voice with and spoke with a soft accent.  
  
"I'm Hermione Granger" said the girl and stuck out her hand. Auria stared at it strangely for a moment and then held it. Hermione, to the surprise of the Elf shook it.  
  
"My name is Auria," answered the Elf.  
  
"I'm Ron Weasley," "and I'm Harry Potter," the two of them said quickly in an attempt to get Auria's attention.  
  
"I'm pleased to meet you all" she said politely. Both Ron and Harry blushed as Hermione rolled her eyes.  
  
Behind them Malfoy was listening intensely to their conversation and already thinking of pranks to pull on the new girl. 


	2. A meeting with Malfoy

When the feast was over Harry, Ron and Hermione led Auria up towards the Gryffindor common room. "Hey elf girl, you gonna clean my clothes and wash my dishes?" said a cold voice behind them. They turned around to see Draco Malfoy sneering at them.  
  
"I don't understand?" said a confused Auria.  
  
"Not to swift there either, huh?" replied Malfoy.  
  
"Shut up Draco," growled Hermione and then turning to Auria said. "Just ignore him, he's not worth listening to. Believe me."  
  
Just at that moment Professor Sprout came around the corner and Draco slipped away towards the Slytherin common room.  
  
"Up to bed Gryffindors" called Sprout kindly.  
  
"We're going professor," replied Ron.  
  
Auria sighed as she walked up the moving staircases. "This school is so dark and dreary, all made of gray stone. I long to walk in the woods and see the light of the stars."  
  
The four Gryffindors reached the portrait of the fat lady only to realize that they did not know the password. After a few moments of standing there deciding what to do the door open and a chubby boy came stumbling out.  
  
"Neville! What's wrong?" cried Hermione.  
  
"Oh, nothing, I just forgot my." and froze when he saw Auria.  
  
"Hello" she said smiling slightly. Neville turned a bright shade of red and sheepishly muttered a hello before running down the stairs.  
  
"Oy Neville" yelled Harry. "What's the password?"  
  
"Pancakes, I think"  
  
"Thanks"  
  
Once inside the group saw that all the good couches by the fire had been taken, and they were forced to find seats in the back. As soon as they sat down Hermione began to bombard Auria with questions.  
  
"So where are you from. Are you our age? Where did you go to school before? What language do you."  
  
"Hermione!" shouted both Ron and Harry, "stop asking her so many questions."  
  
"Sorry" mutter Hermione. "I'll just start with one. Where are you from?"  
  
"Well, I was born in Mirkwood and then after..." she paused as a stab of pain crossed her eyes. "after I moved to Rivendell for a year before coming here." There were blank looks on all three faces. "You've never heard of these places?"  
  
"Um, no" said Harry. "the only elves we know are house-elves and they're short and ugly."  
  
"But they're really nice and are great servants to wizarding families" chimmed in Ron.  
  
"Servants!" exclaimed Auria, "My people are servants to no one." Ron, Harry and Hermione hung their heads in shame. "Is that why that rude boy thought I was a servant?"  
  
"Um, no" Harry said slowly. "He knows you're not, he was just being rude on purpose. Auria grimaced at this.  
  
"Oh my look at the time. I think we've talked enough tonight and its time to go to bed," said Hermione as she gave Harry and Ron the let's leave her alone now look.  
  
Once the good nights were said the boys and girls trudged up the stairs to their respective dorms. Hermione showed Auria her bed and then they both changed into their pajamas. After the lights were off Hermione could hear Auria quietly singing a beautiful song in her soft elven voice and fell asleep to thoughts of forests and stars. 


	3. breakfast

Auria awoke the next morning to the sound of the other Gryffindor girls getting dressed. She peered out from around the red curtain to see Hermione and four other girls walking out the door. After 20 minutes of struggling with her strange new uniform she made her way down to the common room. For many weeks Auria would find a button-down shirt and tie extremely confining and tight compared to her flowing elvish dresses. Going out the portrait door she went down to the Great Hall to start her first day of school.  
  
When she arrived for breakfast she found Harry, Ron and Hermione already eating. She sat down beside Ron and stared at the food, unsure of what to eat. "Did you come down here all by yourself?" asked Hermione.  
  
"Yes why?" Auria responded taking some toast on to her plate.  
  
"Did you get lost at all, because during our first year it took us almost a week to find our way here without getting lost," said Ron  
  
"Only you and Harry did," laughed Hermione as Ron threw a piece of toast at her.  
  
"I just went back the way we went up last night," replied Auria shyly.  
  
"You have amazing directional skills," said Harry.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
As the three others continued eating Auria watched them closely to figure out how exactly mortal food was to be eaten. She learned that you put butter on the bread and milk in the cereal. Just as Professor McGonagall began handing out the schedules the mail arrived. Auria was shocked to see all the owls fly in through the windows and amazed that that was how messages were delivered. Ron, Harry and Hermione explained the mail system and their pets to Auria and learned that she had not brought an animal with her. Then their schedules were handed out and they saw that they had transfigurations as the first class and then care of magical creatures before lunch. "Well we'd better get to class" said Hermione. The four got up and with some evil glares at Malfoy headed towards their class.  
  
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I promise to write more tommorow.please review 


	4. Transfigurations Class

Disclaimer: Oh yeah, I forgot to say in the beginning that I own none of the characters except Auria, although I wish I did.  
  
They reached the transfiguration room and took their seats, Ron and Harry together and Auria with Hermione. After about 5 minutes Professor McGonagall came striding in, the last hints of a tale disappearing just as she reached her desk. Auria stared in disbelief. She would have to ask Hermione about that later. McGonagall organized some books on her desk and then looked shrewdly up at the class.  
  
"Welcome back 5th years. I am warning you now that this year we will be doing much more difficult magic and you will have a lot of homework." The class groaned loudly. "That's enough," she continued. "Now, we are going to start off with a review spell. I'm sure you have not all forgotten how to turn frogs into plates." A few nervous nods could be seen. "Alright, take out your wands."  
  
Auria pulled out her wand. "That's the most beautiful wand I've ever seen!" exclaimed Hermione loudly. Everyone began crowding around Auria's desk to look at it. The wand was made from the wood of a mallorn tree and it was pale white and laced with thin silver writing. The handle was made of shimmering green glass that was made to look like a pattern of leaves. "What does it say?" asked Neville.  
  
"This wand belongs to Auria and was made in Lothlorien the enchanted realm of light." She answered nervously, shrinking back from all the staring faces.  
  
"Alright" said McGonagall sternly. "That's enough gawking, back to your seats." She came around and placed a frog on everyone's desk. "Remember to think of what you want the plate to look like. The words are alternitus amphibiamus."  
  
Everyone managed to change their frog after about half an hour. Some were shiny and silver, others wooden, some metal and dull and Neville's was broken in two. Hermione thought that she had made the nicest plate, being white and have a small blue border on the edge, but then she looked at Auria's. It was pale silver with a gold rim. The plate outside rim had knotted pattern and the inside depicted a large home set inside a valley all in color. Hermione glared at her for a moment and then sat back and crossed her arms. Professor McGonagall came around to inspect their plates.  
  
"Very good Hermione" she said in her usual tone. "Oh Auria, its beautiful, look at all that coloring and detail. May I keep it?" The room went silent and everyone stared at McGonagall in disbelief. She had never wanted to keep anything from anyone before and she sounded genuinely excited about this. Once again everyone got up and crowded around Auria's desk. They all agreed that it was beautiful, except for Hermione who sat looking away into the corner. Ron had seen her turn away and wipe her eyes with her sleeve. A few minutes later the bell rang and all the Gryffindors headed off to their next class. 


End file.
